Chapter 26
At that time.
Daegyo Market, which had been assigned to Song Do-hyeon.
Occasionally, the merchants’ cries to attract customers echoed across the ground heated by the scorching sun.
But it was nothing like the bustling atmosphere of the past.
People exhausted by the heat would look over the goods for a moment before immediately leaving the market.
“Tch……”
The merchants watched them go with disappointed expressions.
Song Do-hyeon entered the shop of Old Man Woo, the owner of the largest cloth shop in Daegyo Market and also the oldest merchant there, while fanning himself.
“Good day. It’s been a while since I’ve stopped by.”
“Oh my, Haengsu Song.”
The owner of the cloth shop, Old Man Woo, welcomed Song Do-hyeon warmly.
Inside the shop, there was nothing more than shade, yet unlike outside, the air was considerably cooler.
It was an entirely different temperature from Eun-pyeong Market, where the merchants sweated profusely while conducting business at stalls under the scorching sun.
“How has business been lately?”
Song Do-hyeon asked as he put down his fan.
Old Man Woo clicked his tongue and replied.
“What is there to say? We’re just waiting for flies. Sales have been cut in half.”
“Hmm.”
Contrary to appearances, the situation at Daegyo Market wasn’t exactly comfortable either.
Sales were still being made steadily, but compared to the past, they were far below their former level.
“So, about that.”
Song Do-hyeon got straight to the point.
“I’ve come up with a few ideas to draw customers into the market. Would you like to hear them?”
“Of course. If it’s an opinion from Haengsu Song, I ought to listen carefully.”
Old Man Woo spread both arms to show his welcome.
Song Do-hyeon presented his idea.
“First, we gather things that can help people cool down from the heat in one place.”
“What kind of things?”
“Ramie, hemp cloth, bamboo wives, things like that.”
“What are you planning to do by gathering them all in one place?”
Song Do-hyeon continued his explanation.
“If we put them all together in one place, customers won’t have to walk around searching for them and can find everything at once. In weather like this, it’s important to reduce the distance people have to walk.”
“Not a bad idea.”
Old Man Woo nodded in agreement.
Then Song Do-hyeon picked up the fan he had set down.
Snap!
He opened it with a flourish.
“And we’ll distribute these fans for free starting from the entrance of the market.”
“Fans? For free?”
The fan Song Do-hyeon had brought was simple.
It was nothing more than bamboo ribs with paper attached to them, a modest fan. But in weather like this, there was certainly a difference between having a fan and not having one.
One wave of the fan could mean the difference between heaven and hell.
Song Do-hyeon began fanning himself.
“Yes. We’ll use these fans, which cost only a few pennies, to draw people in. People passing nearby will also gather at the market to get a fan.”
“Oh?”
As though conscious of someone, Song Do-hyeon’s strategy had changed.
“And we’ll sell cool sujeonggwa throughout the market to quench people’s thirst. I’ll ask Daebang-nim to get us ice from the oebinggo.”
“Even that precious ice!”
In the past, he would never have come up with such a complicated plan.
“Would that really be possible?”
“Well… It won’t be easy, but I have a budget allocated to me, so I’ll give it a try.”
“Thank you! Haengsu Song!”
Song Do-hyeon had always developed strategies focused on his individual performance. Because he had to be the best, and only he could stand out.
But Hayun’s appearance had changed Song Do-hyeon.
To defeat her, he had to look at things from the same level as her.
He needed to look at the forest, not the trees.
“And lastly……”
Song Do-hyeon paused for a moment.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that everything depended on this strategy.
The thing people needed most in summer.
The thing people desperately wanted.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with a more innovative method than this.
After taking a moment to catch his breath, Song Do-hyeon finally spoke.
“We’ll put up a massive shade canopy over the entire market.”
“A shade canopy?”
Old Man Woo asked with wide eyes.
“If shade were created like it is here now, wouldn’t people be able to walk around the market for much longer? Then naturally, sales would increase as well.”
“Such a brilliant idea?”
This was the best human beings could do in the face of a natural disaster like a heat wave.
Create shade, fan people, and provide cool ice.
What other method could there be?
Unless they were going to hold a rain prayer ceremony, that was.
The problem, however, was that covering the entire market with shade canopies would far exceed the budget Song Do-hyeon had been given.
Old Man Woo, the cloth shop owner, was concerned about that point.
“But putting up shade canopies is going to cost quite a bit… Is Mansang paying for that too?”
“No. That would be difficult.”
Song Do-hyeon drew a firm line.
Instead, he offered another solution.
“Collect a small amount of money from each of the market merchants. Then I’ll send the materials needed to install the shade canopies here.”
“Huh? You want us to pay the cost?”
“There’s no helping it. If we want customers to gather at the market.”
“That is true, but…”
Old Man Woo hesitated to answer.
Normally, the worse the business was, the more carefully one had to save money. He was very reluctant to make an investment.
In the worst case, they could spend the money and see little effect in return.
“At times like this, you need to make a bold decision.”
As though he had noticed Old Man Woo’s hesitation, Song Do-hyeon deliberately prodded him.
“Are you planning to let other markets take your customers away just like this?”
“Other markets taking our customers? What do you mean?”
“Surely you didn’t think Mansang was only providing support to Daegyo Market?”
Song Do-hyeon cleverly mixed truth and lies to sway Old Man Woo’s mind.
“Even now, countless haengsus must be going around the markets. And they’ll be making proposals just like mine. To save their own markets.”
“Such…!”
There was no room for hesitation anymore. To survive amid fierce competition, they had to make a choice.
“So you’d better decide before it’s too late. It’s not as though this is the only market.”
After saying that, Song Do-hyeon fell silent. By now, urgency had appeared in Old Man Woo’s eyes.
In the end, Old Man Woo nodded.
“Fine… I’ll do as you say. We’ll install the shade canopies.”
“Thank you.”
Song Do-hyeon said that as he handed over a sheet of paper.
“Please sign here. It says that you’ll pay five hundred nyang for the cost of installing the shade canopies.”
“Hmm… All right.”
As expected, it was a considerable sum. But when he thought of it as the cost of saving the market, it didn’t seem all that large. Once installed, they would be useful for years to come.
After a moment’s deliberation, Old Man Woo signed the contract.
“Then I’ll send the materials needed to install the shade canopies here shortly.”
After checking the contract, Song Do-hyeon rose from his seat.
“Thank you, Haengsu Song.”
“No need to thank me. It’s only natural that I do my job.”
A faint smile hung around Song Do-hyeon’s lips.
He had made a profit of no less than five hundred nyang from the very first day of his assignment.
***
At that time, Eun-pyeong Market, where Hayun was staying.
“Yaaawn~ It’s already gotten this late.”
As the sun began to set, the merchants one by one started packing up their stalls.
“Should we start heading home?”
“You worked hard today as well.”
“See you again tomorrow.”
The cleanup was finished in an instant.
In truth, there wasn’t even much to clean up. They hadn’t sold anything all day. The exact same goods that had been sitting on their stalls yesterday and the day before were still there. They would probably be there again tomorrow.
With that, the merchants began returning home after packing up their stalls.
That was when…
“Hm?”
The merchants on their way home stopped after noticing something.
“You haven’t left yet?”
What they had discovered was Hayun crouching at the entrance of the market.
Beside Hayun was a pile of writings she had scribbled down.
The merchants offered words of encouragement that weren’t really encouragement at all.
“My, you’re stubborn. You’ve been sitting like this all this time?”
“How do you feel after staying here all day? Tired?”
“That’s why I told you to give up. This market isn’t going anywhere anyway.”
“We’ll live and die like this, so don’t put yourself through unnecessary trouble and just go home.”
Despite the merchants’ attempts at consolation, Hayun didn’t answer.
Then she muttered quietly,
“I think the ones who should give up are you people, not me.”
The merchants’ expressions instantly hardened upon hearing that.
“What?”
“Give up? What more can we possibly give up here?”
“Tch, we let you worry about us a little, and now you think you’re something?”
Hayun showed no sign of backing down despite the merchants’ criticism.
Hayun quietly asked,
“Do you know how many customers came to this market today?”
“Well…”
No one readily answered.
No, they couldn’t.
Because none of them had ever cared about that.
Hayun slowly opened her mouth.
“Twenty-three.”
“……!”
Perhaps that number was rather shocking, because the merchants’ faces were colored with bewilderment.
They had simply thought there were no customers when there were no customers. They had never once thought to count them individually.
“Only twenty-three people came to this huge market in an entire day. Does that make any sense?”
Hayun slowly stood up.
Then Hayun’s body, which had looked rather small just moments ago, stretched across the ground with the shadow cast behind her, making her seem enormous.
“Are you people not ashamed to call yourselves merchants after acting like this?”
“What are you saying……!”
“Just because you’re from Mansang, you think that gives you the right to say anything you want!”
“What do you take us for, saying something like that?”
Hayun deliberately used harsh language, intending to shock them.
And it seemed to have quite an effect, as various emotions appeared on the merchants’ faces.
Confusion, shame, anger, and so on.
She had managed to kindle even the smallest spark in their hearts.
‘Anger is fine too. If it can become a driving force.’
She had succeeded this far.
Now all that remained was figuring out how to persuade them.
Hayun spoke firmly.
“So give up on doing business during the day.”
“What?”
“Give up daytime business?”
“You want us to give up?”
It was the same expression she had used moments ago, but one word was different. Hayun had specifically said daytime.
Several merchants who noticed that subtle distinction had a slight change in their eyes. Hayun did not miss that small change.
Then Hayun revealed her plan.
“Instead, let’s open a night market.”
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